


A Shark Named Bubba

by SpicyRedPaladin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bad Flirting, Christmas Presents, Comedy, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Second-Hand Embarrassment, Snow, Time Skips, literally a highschool romcom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 01:16:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17234675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpicyRedPaladin/pseuds/SpicyRedPaladin
Summary: Shiro and Keith were sosogone for Lance. It was hard to imagine not loving him. But sometimes Lance can be.... A bit dense.





	A Shark Named Bubba

**Author's Note:**

  * For [itzahann](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=itzahann).



> My Shklance Holiday Exchange fic for itzahann!!!

Shiro and Keith had talked at length about how this was going to work. They were going to walk up to him, win his heart with a few lines, and live happily ever. Perfect scenario; perfect end. And their plan was fool-proof. Not even the fact that they were going after  _ Lance _ could screw this up.

They had decided Shiro would give it a whirl on his own first. He strode through the halls confidently, a bright smile lighting his face when he saw Lance. His heart swelled with joy as always did when he caught sight of Keith or Lance. There was no denying that the senior was madly in love with both of them.

Lance looked up with a grin as Shiro leaned against the lockers beside him, casual as ever. God, how could those blue eyes be so cute? How could such a cool color make his heart melt no matter where or when he saw it, always associating it with this beautiful face. Shiro was so lost in those pools that he almost missed when Lance started talking.

“G’Morning, Shiro! Not gunna go suck Keith’s face out in this quad today? Too much snow for your old bones?”

Shiro couldn’t help the way his face lit up when Lance mentioned making out with Keith. That did sound really tempting, but he was on a mission that, sadly, didn’t involve making out with Keith. He stammered a bit, clearing his throat. “N-no, I uh… W-wanted to come talk to you…? I mean unless you don’t want to, then I can definitely-”

He cut off as he glanced over Lance’s shoulder and caught sight of Keith. He flinched under the glare his boyfriend was giving him, quickly clearing his throat and trying again. “No, uh, really though. I was thinking we should definitely hang out more. You know. Just us. Or us and Keith. We really do want to spend time with you.”

Lance raised an eyebrow, laughing a bit and closing his locker, leaning against the metal and giving Shiro a scrutinizing look. He shook his head and sighed. “Man, I see what you’re trying to do. And honestly, it’s pretty adorable.”

Shiro paused, gulping. Did Lance really know what he was doing? “O-oh? I don’t think I know what you’re talking about…”

Lance smiled. “You’re trying to get me to be your wingman for some reason. Dude, you already have a great boyfriend. But if you want help with pick up lines to use on him, I’m happy to help. No one does it better than yours truly.”

To emphasize his point, Lance shot a wink and finger guns at Allura and Romelle as they passed in the hall. Both girls rolled their eyes or shook their head, continuing on and leaving Lance with a sour, dejected sort of look on his face. Shiro felt his heart sink at such a sad look on his crush, and quickly jumped to reassure him.

“Well, I think pick up line lessons sounds like the perfect thing to help me out. And who better to teach me than Loverboy Lance, right? We can start at study period. Sound like a plan?”

Lance looked up at him, his cheeks flushing pink and a little smile coming back to his lips. “Really? I mean, yeah! Sounds great Shiro. Study period subject for today: make Shiro flirt-a-licious.”

The first bell rang and Lance smiled, pushing away from the lockers. “I’ll see you at third period, then. I’ll be waiting by the gym doors!”

The junior ran off, leaving Shiro to watch after him as Keith came over, also watching Lance’s retreating back.

“So, how did it go? Did you ask him to go on a date with us?”

“I have a date with him during third period because apparently I suck at flirting…”

“Why am I not surprised?”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith took a deep breath before walking towards the lunch table Lance was at. Even though he was late to lunch from being held back by a teacher, Lance was still sitting alone with some homework in front of him. Keith sat his tray and then himself directly across from his classmate, fixing him with a determined look. Lance looked up, seeming a bit startled. His face immediately became something worried, his pencil tapping against his textbook rhythmically.

“Oh, uh… Hey, Keith. Is this about me and Shiro hanging out during study hall? Because I don’t know what you may have heard but-”

Keith scoffed a bit, tapping his tray with his fork. “If you think I’m mad about you two hanging out, I’m not. Shiro told me you were determined to give him flirting lessons. I’m glad you two are hanging out, actually.”

Lance licked his lips, clearly not quite knowing how to take that. Keith bit his lip, hoping he hadn’t scared him somehow. He cleared his throat, looking away from Lance and spearing a floret of broccoli. Had he already fucked this up?

Suddenly, Lance set down his pencil, a knowing smile coming to his face. “I get what’s going on. You’re not jealous I was hanging out with your boyfriend. You’re jealous I was giving him all my amazing romance advice. So now he’s gonna be the romantic one.”

Keith sighed with relief, looking back at Lance with a small smile. Thank  _ god _ he hadn’t fucked this all up. “Yeah, exactly. What am I gonna do if he starts rolling around bringing me flowers now that you’ve corrupted him?”

Lance grinned and let out a cackle, picking his pencil back up and scribbling on a scrap of paper before passing it over to Keith. “Well, I can always give  _ you _ romance lessons, too. Shoot me a text whenever you’re feeling particularly ‘un-flirty’. Or just to chat. Whichever.”

With that, Lance put away his books, leaving Keith to stare at the paper in his hand. Was this really Lance’s number? The bell rang and Lance waved a bit. Keith gave a little wave back, chuckling to himself and shaking his head as Lance walked away.

Shiro came up, pressing a soft kiss to Keith’s cheek. “How’d it go, babe?”

“I got his number. And apparently I get private romance advice because I’m jealous you’re the romantic one now.”

“But no date?”

“...”

“That’s okay, Keith. We’ve got some time left before Christmas break. We can get him.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro and Keith waited patiently by Lance’s locker, shoulders pressed tight together so they could share body heat in the cold hallway. They’d decided they’d have better luck if they stuck together, so both were ready, each holding a little wrapped present. Neither knew what the other had gotten Lance; it was part of the surprise. The perked up when they heard the infectious laughter of their mark filling the hall, accompanied by a burst of cold wind from the doors.

Lance, Hunk, and Pidge rounded the corner, breaking off to go down their separate halls with little waves and a promise to chat on some game later. Shiro and Keith both nudged each other and exchanged little smiles as Lance noticed them, the soft thump of his steps picking up pace as he hurried to them.

“Shiro! Keith! How are you guys? It feels like I see you both so much more these days!”

The two quickly each wrapped an arm around Lance, squeezing him gently.Lance returned the hug with a laugh, gladly letting the two of them warm him up a degree or two. Shiro and Keith both pulled back begrudgingly, though the space between them and Lance was quickly filled again, this time with their offered presents.

Lance looked between them and their hands before grinning and accepting their gifts. “You guys, this is so sweet! Oh, I  _ actually  _ just happen to have your Christmas presents with me!”

Shiro and Keith exchanged an excited look as Lance reached into his coat pocket, producing three identical bracelets, all handwoven. “I made them myself. For the three of us!”

The two eagerly accepted the gifts, examining them carefully. They were all made with the same alternating color pattern of red, black, and blue stripes and each bpre the recipients initial at the end in their favorite color. Lance preened as they possessed him, typing the third of the bracelets to his own wrist.

“I'm glad you like them! I used all our favorite colors. It's been awhile since I made friendship bracelets, so I'm glad I didn't mess them up. Now everyone knows we're the Bro-mance Squad.”

Shiro and Keith exchanged another look as Lance laughed at his own joke. Friendship bracelets. They tried not to hide the bit of disappointment they felt at that, helping each other put on the jewelry. They were well made, to Lance's credit. At least he was serious that they really were friends.

Keith turned back first while Shiro admitted his bracelet, urging Lance to open their gifts. To his credit, he did convince Lance to open Shiro’s first even though he wanted to see it the other way around.

Shiro looked up as wrapping paper rustled and revealed a small batch of snowflake-shaped chocolates with little blue sugar pearls embellishing them. Honestly, Keith was a bit jealous. Shiro couldn't bake or cook, but damn he made amazing chocolate. Lance looked equally pleased, his face lighting up brightly.

“Woah, did you make these, Shiro? They're beautiful! Can I eat one?”

Shiro chuckled, grinning. How cute was that? “Lance, they’re for you. You don’t have to ask permission to eat your own present.”

Lance flushed brightly and quickly fished out a piece of candy, eating it with a smile. He made a content noise, his eyes sliding shut. Shiro knew he’d made it the way Lance likes, special dark. He, personally, liked his chocolate sweeter, but Lance was always so adamant that chocolate was  _ meant _ to be bitter.

Keith leaned against Shiro, crossing his arms as he watched. As cute as it was watching Lance eat candy Shiro had made, candy that Keith knew was amazing because he had taste-tested it since he and Lance had similar tastes in chocolate, he wanted to see what Lance thought of  _ his _ present.

“Hurry up and open mine. The bell’s gonna ring if you don’t get a move on.”

Lance stuck his tongue out at Keith, carefully tying the bag of chocolate back off and slipping it into the side pocket of his backpack for safe keeping. He opened the little box Keith had handed over, his mouth dropping open as he reached in and pulled out a little, hand-carved shark keychain. Lance looked the little sea creature over with a sparkle in his eyes, fingers running reverently over the blue lacquered bauble.

“Did… did you make this? It’s so cute! He’s such a little fattie!” Lance laughed and pulled his lanyard out of his coat, proudly adding the new charm to the cord. “I’m gonna name him Bubba!”

Keith and Shiro both sighed softly. God, could Lance be any cuter? Could they fall any harder for him? The bell rang, cutting off their time to bask in Lance’s happy glow. Lance waved with a smile and ran off happily, leaving Shiro and Keith to lean against each other and sigh happily. They then immediately cursed each other and themselves, because they still hadn't asked Lance out.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro and Keith huddled together, shivering in the cold. It was almost midnight, just a few days before school let out for Christmas. Which was exactly why the two of them were out in the cold in Lance’s snow covered yard, staring at their leg-written note in the snow.

_ Lance, go out with us. S + K _

It was so obvious that Lance  _ couldn’t _ mistake it for anything else! They hadn’t wanted to hit the nail so hard on the head, but apparently it was the only thing he would understand. Keith and Shiro shared a frost kiss before each picking up a snowball from the pile they’d made. They reared back and each let one fly, aiming at the window with blue shark curtains. After about 7 snowballs, the light flicked on and the two let out a victory whoop.

The window snapped open and the curtains were thrown aside, revealing Lance’s oldest sister, Veronica. She slammed her hands down on the sill and shoved her head out the window, the strap of her night shirt falling off her shoulder. She didn’t bother to fix it as she yelled down to the two idiots standing in the yard.

“Oh my fucking God! Lance isn’t even  _ home _ tonight! You’d fucking know that if you just  _ talked to him like normal people! _ ”

Shiro yelped and grabbed Keith by the arm, calling back. “Sorry, Veronica!”

The two took off down the street, not stopping until the cold winter air stung their lungs and eyes. Keith looked to Shiro and Shiro looked to Keith and soon the two were laughing, collapsed in a snowbank together under a streetlight holding hands through the two foot deep snow.

They looked to one another, content smiles on their faces.

“Whatta ya say, Shiro, try again tomorrow at school?”

“Yeah, one last try. If he doesn’t get it then, he probably never will.”

“God, we’re in love with a dumbass.”

“Well, hopefully he’ll be our dumbass tomorrow.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro and Keith walked into the lunchroom hand in hand. Breakfast was in full swing, and they could see Hunk, Pidge, and Allura huddled around Lance as he showed them something on his phone. Even from across the room, they could hear him.

“-sent it to me while I was asleep last night! I don’t get it, people don’t do crazy romantic stuff like this for me! It just  _ doesn’t happen! _ ”

The couple couldn’t help but grin. Veronica had sent him a picture of their handiwork, apparently. They slid into the only two empty chairs at the table, Shiro’s arm sliding comfortably around Keith’s shoulder. The younger of the two spoke, resting his chin on his hand.

“What are you guys looking at?”

Lance looked up and leaned forward, turning his phone around to show them the message they had written in the snow the night before. “ _ Look at this! _ Someone came over and drew this in our yard for me! I don’t even  _ know anyone _ with those initials!”

Keith looked at Shiro, and the senior leaned forward, squinting at the photo as if he didn’t know what it would say.

“S and K, huh? Well, I wouldn’t say you don’t know  _ anyone _ with those initials. Maybe you just aren’t thinking hard enough.”

Lance frowned and stared at the picture again before gasping and looking back up at his friends.

“Oh my god you guys,  _ no fucking way! _ ”

Shiro and Keith shared a proud grin, though it quickly disappeared when Lance spoke again.

“ _ Sendak and Kinkade both wanna go out with me?! _ ”

Everyone at the table went quiet, starting hard at Lance, who shrunk under their gazes. “Okay so maybe not…”

Shiro reached out and took Lance's phone away as Keith grabbed his hands, both looking at him intently.

“Lance, it was me and Keith. Not Kinkade and fucking  _ Sendak _ . God why would you even think of that? We've been trying to ask you out  _ all month _ !”

Lance was silent for a moment before his eyes widened and his face lit up like a Christmas tree. He pulled his hands up, dragging Shiro and Keith's hands along to cover his face. “ _ Oh my god you guys!  _ That's so cheesy!”

Lance moved his hands as the others started laughing a bit. “That means when you guys were flirting..?”

Keith and Shiro nodded.

“And those sweet presents?”

Another pair of nods.

“ _ You guys! _ ”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lance smiled softly, hanging the last ornament on the Christmas tree. It wasn’t really an ornament, but Lance liked to use it as one. Especially since it meant so much. He tapped the fat little shark, chuckling. The blue paint was starting to chip, which was no surprise since the little guy was almost twenty years old now.

A cold breeze blew through the hall into the living room, cut off by the sound of the front door shut. Lance smiled softly, shivering just a bit. He turned away from the tree as he heard two sets of boots and laughing voices coming into the room. Shiro and Keith were nudging each other, swapping conspiratorial grins.

The three met in the center of the living room, passing around hugs and welcome-home-kisses. Soon, hats, coats, gloves, and boots were discarded, and the three were curled up together under a blanket on the couch, their fireplace-shaped space heater casting its heat over them.

Shiro tutted his tongue a bit to get Keith’s attention, flicking his eyes down to Lance. He’d fallen asleep between the two, their arms draped around him. Keith chuckled and pulled the blanket tighter around them, snuggling closer and closing his eyes. Shiro did the same, and soon all three were asleep, curled up together and completely immune to the cold outside.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Make some noise if you enjoyed!


End file.
